Zanzibar – Day Two – Beach Walk

3-09pm (ZTime)

We had such a good night sleep last night. Mozzies abound, but as we ate dinner, elaborate mosquito nets that hang behind our bed were put in place. We snuggled safely in our tropical indoor tent bed, safe from the buzzing drone of the island’s insects. This morning dawned, still and beautiful….

DawnWe sat down for breakfast at 8am….

BreakfastAnd right after that went for a long beach walk…on a lovely overcast day…temperature about 25C

Bit of rain coming

There are a few things you notice immediately….the tide is out…and so there is an enormous amount of beach…parts are hard sand and easy to walk on. Other bits are a bit soggy, but you can hope over the puddles…

Mike and GerrieThen there is the muddy stuff, that makes it an exercise to get through, especially if you are wearing slip slops, which we were. You tend to get ‘sucked in’. Gerrie had tackies on, so he climbed over the coral….

Gerrie scrambling across coral ledgesJulian got a bit stuck in the mud!….squelch…I did too, but ha ha, I have the camera!….

Julian stuck in the mudWe had fun though…hello from Zanzibar!….

Hello from Zanzibar

We walked far along the beach, passing local women who were just hanging out….

Local women just hanging outFishing is the local industry and there were hundreds of fishermen at work….

FishingWe also passed a fishing village, which looked pretty idyllic from a distance…

Coastal village

But when you got a bit closer, it wasn’t so great…

Beach goatAlong this stretch of beach there are several large, abandoned derelict houses…

Derelict house 1One wonders about their history. Fishing boats are just left on the beach, waiting for the tide to come in….

Fish boat waiting for the tide

Boats are not the only form of transport…

Boat and bike

You don’t hear traffic noise here. The main sound is the buzz of insects, the early morning tweet of the birds, the wind rustling through the palm trees,  and the laughter of people enjoying the pool. The tinkle of crockery being laid for meals reminds me that it’s almost time to eat!

Our room is spacious….

Bedroom from the balcony door

And the balcony, which is where I’m typing this blog is cool and comfortable. The furniture is solid, locally built and typically Tanzanian….

Our balcony

No chipboard here.

Last night, as soon as darkness fell, an entire population of lizards appeared. One stopped long enough for me to snap him….

Lizard

While, on the beach, you are kept company by a multitude of sand crabs. They shoot out of holes and race across the sand…..I didn’t think I’d ever get a photo of one, but today, I did…

Sand crabThe internet this morning was painfully slow. Mike seemed to think it was not the resort connection, but rather what happens between the resort and the outside world. Talking of which, we have no idea of what’s happening in the news. No TVs here. It just makes life so perfectly slow and relaxed. This is an absolute holiday. Three hours from Joburg. Who knew!? After lunch, I tried post the blog again and eventually gave up to the point of thinking I may not even get one up today! I had a snooze instead. When I woke up a short while ago, voila, internet had come right! Yay!

Tomorrow, we are going out for the day. I’ll do my best to get up a blog, but if I am successful, it won’t be before tomorrow night. TIEA (This is East Africa!)

One last fun thing that happened was meeting Pearl. Last night, at dinner, a lady came across and asked if I was Helga! Yay! Pearl from Port Elizabeth was reading my blog and saw I was coming to Zanzibar. She wondered which resort I would be visiting. There are hundreds of resorts on this island, so imagine her surprise when she discovered we would both be at the same one. I must get a photo of us together.

🙂

Isaiah 42:10

Sing to the LORD a new song, His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them.

Keep the smile going.

God bless you loads!

In His Grip,

Helga xx 🙂

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